WOW, WOW and did I say WOW? The Pandigital Novel eReader is only the second product to ever make me say WOW, 3 times. There are a couple of clichés that may further enhance the awe of this product: "Good things come to those who wait" and "save the best for last."

We got ahold of one before the general public (fully released today, August 18th) and were so impressed with it. Kindle and Nook now have some viable competition, and the iPad may also.

The un-boxing and setup of the Novel were as easy as can be. The first step is to create your account on Barnes and Noble dot com. You will need credit card info for purchases. If you already have one, well then that is half the battle. All you have to do is put in your Barnes and Noble account email address and password in the settings area of the Novel reader. You are now able to start purchasing ebooks and filling up your library. Be sure and check for the free ebooks as well, as some are actually classics such as "Little Women" and "Pride and Prejudice."

Forgetting about its eReader features for a moment, you should know that while you will buy it for the eReader itself, it has many more features as well. They include (but are not limited to):

• Full Wi-Fi
• Browser for Internet access
• Calendar
• Alarm clock
• Contacts
• Email (multi accounts)
• An Android Facebook app
• Plays music and videos and stores photos for slide shows
• Onboard weather and stock market apps

So how was it tested? It would be impossible to test all the features in one sitting, but we managed to go through most of what it offered and happily at that.

The Novel quickly saw the broadcast of our wireless network and once the password was put in, we got wireless connectivity at full strength.

The first and most obvious test was the eReader portion. We downloaded two free books: Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." We also made three purchases: a subscription to PC Magazine, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Window's 7" (hey, I don't know everything) and "Shutter Island" because books are better than movies.

Once the books were downloaded, it simply took one click of the "update library" button and all books were now onboard for my reading pleasure.

Whether it was in direct or indirect sunlight, overcast or shaded, the reader was clear and easily readable. At night, there is a mode that inverts the text to pleasing white for in-the-dark or low-light reading which is quite pleasing to the eye,

With a simple flick of the finger or included stylus, the paged turned. In the upper right-hand corner of each page, you find a bookmark symbol. Tap it once and you can go right back to it when you come back to the book or magazine or newspaper, etc.

The selection of books you can download is seemingly endless. Since the Novel and Pandigital are fully compatible with the entire Barnes and Noble bookstore, the world is your library. Another great thing about eBooks is the price: You will find them lower priced than the paperback/hardcover version.

The Pandigital Novel comes complete with its own B&N app that with a single click will bring you to its store to download any book you want.

The eReader portion of this device performed not as expected. Instead, it blew all expectations out the door. Knowing how other Pandigital products performed under testing, this was no real surprise, though.

While it is an eReader, we also tested some of the other included apps and features. The browser app appeared to have no drawbacks. Sites visited included Twitter, iPhone.com, boston.com and a few others. It basically looked as if I was on a tablet device (gee, sound familiar?).

The calendar app and contacts app integrate well with the email app, which I was able to set up with my comcast.net email address. As a sidebar, it was learned from a representative that there are plans to sync with your local PC calendar, contacts etc. That being said, once email was set up, I could send or receive as if I was on my own PC. While it was tested with only one email account, it allows for multiple with no "documented" limitation.

The Facebook app is perfect. Once you log in, it gives you the option to keep the info signed in and again, performs more like a tablet device (hint hint) than an eReader with an extra app.

It comes with a kickstand of sorts which will segue us into the movie viewer and photo viewer apps, as well as the alarm clock. You can watch YouTube videos, as well as those uploaded from your camera or PC. Slide shows will make the eReader double as an eFrame which, again, is just another plus for this product.

There are also two onboard convenience apps, one for weather and one for stocks and finance. Both are powered by yahoo.com.

All in all, dollar for dollar, I see no reason why the Pandigital Novel could not overtake both the Nook and/or the Kindle within the next 6-12 months. If apps come available for it, it will be the industry standard for a tablet PC device. With the holiday shopping season only about three months away, the Pandigital Novel will be sure to be a top seller for those heavy readers or gadget hounds in your life.